Cervical vertebrae for early bone loss evaluation in osteoporosis mouse models.

Background: Osteoporosis (OP), a systemic skeletal disease common in aged population, is an important public health problem worldwide. Animal models are important tools for understanding OP. In ovariectomy (OVX) or orchiectomy (ORX) OP models, lumbar vertebrae are often used for evaluating of the OP progression. However, unlike the bipeds, the lumbar vertebrae are not weight loading bones in quadruped animal, but the head-bearing cervical vertebrae take much higher stress. So, we compared the murine cervical vertebrae with lumbar vertebrae for OP assessment. Methods: OVX and ORX mouse models were established on C57BL/6J mice. Serum estradiol, testosterone and bone related biomarkers were verified. Bone quantity and quality were determined using micro computed tomography (micro-CT) analysis. Hard tissue sections were prepared, stained for histomorphological analyzing, and micro-indentation measured for bone mechanical property evaluation. Results: In OVX and ORX mice, serum estradiol or testosterone levels reduced, bone resorption level and related biomarkers elevated, indicated the successful generation of the OP models. In the early stage, the trabecular bone mineral density (BMD) of cervical vertebrae was already reduced 16.1% (OVX) and 21.7% (ORX) one-month post-gonadectomy, respectively; while this decline in the fifth lumbar vertebra were only 5% and 7.4%, respectively. Six months post-gonadectomy, the reduction of BMD in cervical vertebrae and the fifth lumbar vertebra were 31.2% & 36.1% and 28.5% & 30.7% respectively. In biomechanical aspects, cervical spines showed worse Vickers hardness (HV) and elastic modulus than lumbar spine in six-month OVX and ORX mice. Conclusions: We provide a new OP early-stage evaluation mouse model based on the cervical spine. Through the radiographic, biological and biomechanical assessments, the mouse cervical spine is more suitable for bone remodeling evaluation in OP models than the conventional lumbar vertebrae, especially for early-stage OP study.

[Effects of Long-term Fertilization on Soil Microbial Diversity and Community Structure in the Agro-pastoral Ecotone].

To explore the effects of different long-term fertilization treatments on soil microbial diversity and community structure in the drylands of an agro-pastoral ecotone, a long-term fertilization experiment at the Inner Mongolia cultivated land conservation science observation and experiment station, Ministry of Agriculture, and rural areas was taken as the research object. Four treatments, including no fertilizer (CK), single nitrogen fertilizer (NF), single chemical fertilizer (CF), and the combined application of organic manure and chemical fertilizer (CFM), were selected for the collection of 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm soil at potato maturity 16 years after the experiment (2019). High-throughput sequencing technology was used to assess the soil bacterial and fungal communities to explore the effects of different fertilization measures on soil quality from the perspective of microorganisms, and the partial least squares path model (PLS-PM) was used to reveal the key environmental driving factors of soil microbial community alternation and crop yield improvement in dryland during fertilization mode transformation. The results showed that:① the CF and CFM treatments significantly improved soil fertility, but the effect of the latter was significantly better than that of the former. Soil available nitrogen, available phosphorus, and available potassium in the CFM treatment increased by 131.9%-174.7%, 216.9%-283.3%, and 103.3%-109.3%, respectively, and organic matter and total nitrogen content also increased significantly. The CF treatment still maintained a high soil pH, whereas the NF treatment significantly decreased soil pH and had little effect in improving soil fertility. ② Compared with that under CK, the NF treatment significantly reduced the soil bacterial Chao1 and Shannon index, and the CFM treatment significantly increased the soil bacterial species richness, Chao1 index, and soil fungal Shannon index, whereas soil bacterial and fungal diversity in the CF treatment did not reach a significant difference level with CK. ③ The soil microbial community composition at 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm was similar. The CFM treatment increased the relative abundance of soil beneficial bacteria and decreased the relative abundance of pathogenic bacteria. The relative abundance of dominant bacteria such as Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Gemmatimonadetes increased. The relative abundances of Actinobacteria, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota were decreased, whereas the NF and CF treatments showed the opposite trend. ④ PLS-PM analysis showed that with the gradual change in fertilization mode from CK→NF→CF→CFM, the driving factors affecting microbial community succession and yield increase were also changed from soil pH→soil NPK content→soil pH, SOM, and NPK content. In general, long-term fertilization had significant effects on soil chemical properties and microbial communities in drylands in the agro-pastoral ecotone. As the optimal fertilization choice, CFM was significantly better than NF and CF in improving soil fertility and inhibiting the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. The number of pathogens in long-term non-fertilization and unbalanced fertilization soil was significantly increased, and the risk of crop infection to indigenous diseases was increased. The research results can provide scientific reference for farmland nutrient balance management and soil microenvironment improvement of the agricultural ecosystem in the agro-pastoral ecotone in North China.

[The influences of different vegetation ecosystems on heavy metals in soil in semi-arid region].

The ecological environment of semi-arid regions in China is fragile, and the situation of protecting environment is grim. So it is urgent to strengthen environment protection and ecological construction in semi-arid region. Four different vegetation ecosystems were selected in semi-arid region with Wuchuan County in Inner Mongolia as a case study: the bushes, the trees, the alfalfa land, and artificially mixed sowing grassland. The soil was sampled and carried to laboratory for analysis of the content of lead, cadmium and chromium in the soil in May and September (the start of the growing season and the end of the growing season). It was showed that among the four different ecosystems, the lead and cadmium contents in the soil were significantly different in variability, while the chromium is not significant. And the changing rate trend of the content of lead and cadmium is consistent: the contents of the both elements in May are higher than in September obviously. The degree of the order of the content change is also very close. The biggest of the change scope is from the bushes and artificially mixed sowing grassland, followed by the alfalfa land, and finally the trees. Therefore, it is more favorable to plant shrubs and grass for absorbing heavy metals in the soil in the common local vegetation eco-system.